9 Effective Ways to Tighten Your Belly

If a flattering stomach is one of your main goals, welcome to the club, trust us that you are not alone. Stomach fat not only affects appearance and self-confidence, it also has a big impact on your health. Doctors call it visceral fat, it covers your organs, can do serious damage to your well-being, and lead to some serious health issues, like cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

We at Bright Side care about our readers and want them to stay healthy and looking good, this is why we prepared this article for you.

There are 3 main aspects you need to take in consideration to achieve your goal — adopt a healthier lifestyle, improve your diet habits, and choose the right exercise plan with a couple of additional tricks.

1. Exercise regularly

The calorie deficit can be achieved by focusing on eating fewer calories or burning more, or both which is even better. Exercising is one of the key ways to achieve your goal, it helps you lose fat all over your body including around your stomach. Plus, regular exercising increases your metabolism meaning your body will be burning more calories than before while doing the same activity.

2. Focus on your whole body

Whole-body exercises are great when you’re working on losing weight, decreasing fat, and tightening the stomach as a result of it. Think about swimming, walking, running, or boot camps for circuit training. And don’t forget to include ab work as a part of your regular routine.

The key is to exercise for at least 30 minutes and another key is to keep your heart rate at approximately 70% of its maximum. This is when your body starts burning the actual fat. If you don’t have a device to track your heart rate, use the old school trick — get it to a level where you can still speak but cannot sing.

3. Find a team sport

If you find it hard to drag yourself to exercise, think about a team sport. This gets you active even while it seems you are just having fun. Many workplaces organize soccer or volleyball teams and many cities have local community sport clubs. Have fun, make new friends, get fit, and start losing that stubborn tummy fat.

4. Cut calories

We all have heard gazillions of times that we are what we eat and that will never change. Unfortunately, you cannot burn fat locally, just around your stomach, but reducing the overall fat percentage will affect your tummy as well. To reduce the fat percentage, you need to create a calorie deficit, in other words, you should burn more calories than you get from the food you eat. Trainers suggest that if you are able to stick to a 250 calorie deficit daily, that weight loss will be around 1 kg a week.

5. Skip the sugar

Sugar is your biggest enemy. The worst type is the hidden sugar, sometimes you may not even realize how much sugar you get with what you think of as healthy food. Pickled foods, salad dressing, fruit juices, even the freshly squeezed ones, are all very high in sugar. The solution is simple — avoid it, substitute something else, or just use in moderation.

6. Start with your vegetables

Starting your meals with vegetables is one of the ways to trick your own body. We all understand that veggies are the healthiest thing on your plate and if you start with them and you won’t have as much room for the other food. Veggies get digested faster than meat and having faster-digesting food first makes the whole process easier for your system, as the better digestion you have, the less fat you will end up with. Plus, veggies are high in fiber, meaning they will fill you up.

7. Pick the right food

Choose what you eat wisely. If you prioritize plant-based foods, like vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, you will lower your overall caloric intake by default. Generally speaking, plant-based foods are much lower in fat and higher in fiber than other foods, so they fill you up without too many calories.

8. Make lifestyle changes

The bottom line is that you need to change your lifestyle habits. For your body to change, something in your routine has to change. You are the only person who can tell what it may be — your diet, exercise, getting enough sleep, only you can know. Be honest with yourself and answer this simple question — “how badly you want to get rid of that flabby belly”?

There is no magic cure. If you really want to get rid of it, make a plan, and stick to it. Consistency is the key to success.

9. Use essential oils

Some essential oils are known for their ability to tighten skin. Frankincense, patchouli, lavender, geranium, neroli, rosehip, and jasmine oils can help you. But do not expect miracles, the oils can help to tighten the skin, but they will not help to burn fat.

Use 6 drops of any essential oil from above and mix it with 1 tbsp of avocado, coconut, argan, or any other carrier oil you have, and gently massage on your skin.

Do you have other suggestions for how to get the perfect flat stomach? Tell us about it in the comments.